Autumn
by Fladdles
Summary: A story on the beauty of life - in a world loosely formed on the premises of the series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and the film The Matrix.
1. Prologue

"Everyone has a purpose here, or else we wouldn't exist."

The words echo off the metal walls of the interrogation room as he opens the door and sits down. He undoes the hoofcuffs with his magic and the metal restraints fall to the floor with a clatter. Her ears perk up as he continues,

"Some ponies' purposes may be to help others reach their ultimate reason for existence. Me? I have been passively looking for my purpose for my entire life and I finally get to realize it. My entire existence has been built for this moment. My _purpose_ was to save my wife and daughter, as well as Lander and everyone else aboard my shuttle."

He leans towards the mare, resting his weight on the small table between them, "Now, with that purpose fulfilled, in these last few moments I am at peace. Hundreds are going to die in a matter of minutes…and they have no idea it's coming. There will be fear, there will be chaos. Confusion. There will be pain, there will be suffering. Unlike them, I accept the coming death…I _welcome_ it, because I have fulfilled my purpose."

He leans back in his chair, "Now, that is not to say that the death of an entire colony like this is not tragic. I realize it is a horrible event…but I…nobody…can do anything to stop the gears in turn now. It is simply beyond anyone's control."

"Why are you telling me this?"

He stands up and plants his hooves on the table, "Because you have not fulfilled your purpose! You cannot die yet! You are hope in the face of approaching death! You are part of something much bigger than this space station, if not as big as our species' existence completely!"

She stands up to mirror his intimidating stance, "I know what you're asking me to do, but I'm not completely positive it's even possible!"

He slams his hoof on the metal table, "You have to try! What other choice do you have!"

The words echo through the metal corridors of the ship as he catches his breath. The mare sits back down and looks at the table. He is right…she can try. She _has _to try. Even if she doesn't succeed, it would be better than just giving up. It would be better than just dying at the hands of the machines with no purpose. His voice softly continues as she concentrates,

"You were the one who brought this upon us. The least you can do is try the only thing you can to help."

Her horn starts to glow. The room starts to grow hotter. The stallion remains unaffected by the powerful display of magic. He is unafraid. Her horn grows in power and the magic it is building and gathering starts to fill the room with a loud rushing sound as she concentrates her energy. Her eyes glow behind closed eyelids. The air in the room starts to swirl into a whirlpool at tremendous speed as she is a hair's width away from her end result.

"Autumn…" His voice is barely audible above the rushing air flowing around her.

"If you can hear me…" Her horn starts to spew out beams of concentrated light. Energy is expelled from the magic appendage and dances on the floor like boiling water as the air around her starts to increase in speed.

"Remember me."

Her eyes snap open to reveal pure light behind her eyelids. Her mouth opens to speak as the light and burning energy being expelled by her horn increases. The sound of the missiles impacting the Kenandra and detonating reverberate throughout the hull as dull thumps. The screaming of ponies quietly begins in the background as they are killed and sucked out into the depths of space.

"No…remember me."


	2. Awakening

"She's stable, but will need a lot of support." The voice echoes through the fog – the fog of silence and a dull hum coming from the inside of her head. Her entire body burns with an aching pain, most notably her head. Quiet sounds of hooves on metal grating echo through the mist of other sounds around her. Something beeps every couple of seconds to her right. She feels a warm material against her back, which means she must be lying down with her back on something. Her eyes are taped shut and covered in bandages. A dizzying feeling overwhelms her.

_What…where…_

"How is she?" The strong, authoritative male voice resounds though the room with a very quiet and almost unnoticeable echo. It almost startles her.

_Who's…that..._

"Well…she's stable. That's all we know." A female voice of a motherly, caring pony makes her feel slightly better.

"Signature?" The male voice shows a little bit of nervousness.

"Strong and holding. What do you think that wa-" The female is cut off by the authoritative male.

"I don't know, Candice. Just keep her alive. Answers will come eventua..." The male slowly drifts into meaningless babble.

_Who…_

She slowly loses consciousness.

A sharp, repetitive beeping startles her awake. The sound of somepony running along a metal grate echoes in her ears for only a second before the beeping stops and she feels something poke her left arm. The beeping stops and she feels warmth spread in her chest and into her limbs with a comfortable sensation. Hours pass by like years.

"Turn that off! Don't you know you're supposed to cover that for transition?!" The familar motherly voice of what must be Candice suddenly turns harsh.

A crash of many small objects makes her heart skip a beat before a young female voice responds with nervousness, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, I forgot!"

Candice hurries over to the direction of the crash and comforts the filly after a sigh, "It's okay, Dawn. Just…don't do that okay? She's not ready yet and you might hurt her eyes. The bandages might not block everything and we just have to be extra careful around her."

Dawn responds, a little more relaxed, "Who...is she, mommy?"

She listens to the mare and filly breathe for what feels like an hour as her own breathing quietly continues in the background. She can almost sense where the others are around her, just by the noise of their breathing.

"I don't know, sweetie, I don't know."

Her stomach ache slowly returns as she feels the warm liquid enter her right arm through the IV needle. She notices that there are straps around her arms and legs. A warm blanket is drooped over her. The sound of the male voice she heard once before quietly speaks to Candice.

"Begin ANS and CNS stimulation in an hour, then let her rest a day."

_ANS…C…what?_

Candice sternly but quietly objects, "With all due respect, Morpheus, I'm the doctor here. She needs more time before any stimulation. Her nerves aren't even completely ready yet-" She is stopped by Morpheus as it sounds like he put something over her mouth. A quiet kiss is heard before he speaks with a calm and caring voice.

"Trust me, Candice, I have a feeling. Please…"

A sharp electrical sting runs down her spine and through every fiber of her body. It is not entirely painful, but just feels completely alien. Suddenly the electrical feeling intensifies a thousand fold. She arches her back and screams in agony as every cell in her body feels like it is being torn apart from the inside out. Something in her mouth prevents her from screaming very loud. Her arms and legs chaff against the restraints still in place from last time she was awake as she feels a knife-like pain slice through every inch of her body. Suddenly, as sharply as it all began, the electricity stops. She falls back onto what feels like a metal board covered in soft material as a makeshift bed. Her limbs are numb, and she feels like she is going to vomit. She feels a small prick on her right arm again and slowly loses consciousness.

"Its ok, dear, you did good. You can rest now, all the hard parts are done…"

Her eyes roll backwards under her eyelids as Candice calms her and suddenly lapses into a deep sleep.

Morpheus' voice slowly brings her back, "…and that over there. Get the diodes ready, I'll wake her up. Oh, and get the IV ready…"

She feels what must be Morpheus' hooves rubbing her gently on the shoulder and down her left arm. She moves her head towards him, drowsily looking in the direction of his voice. She can hear the smile in his voice as it is suddenly filled with a sweet kindness, "Good…you can hear me, that's great. Candice and I are going to help your eyes, ok? Candice is the wonderful mare that's been taking care of you these past two weeks…"

_What? Two weeks since what? Where…when…_

A red light flashes and she can see every vein in her eye for a split second as they sting with a weird pain, making her tense up briefly. Morpheus reassures her, "Its ok, your eyes have had enough time to learn to see. It will hurt a little, but not for much longer."

The red light starts to strobe once a second for a few seconds, then twice as fast, then twice as fast as that. After about a minute, the red light that engulfs her entire vision is fluttering faster than she can count. She can feel muscles in her face spasm slightly every few seconds. The strobe begins to make her dizzy – only a little at first, but then it feels like the entire world around her is warping and spinning. Suddenly the red light stops flashing, or at least seems to stop as it could be flashing so fast she can't even tell when it starts and stops. The light is replaced by a cool, cyan blue light that stays on continually. Morpheus comforts her once more, "Good. That wasn't so bad, was it? Now we're going to take your mask off so this might hurt for a quick second…"

The blue goes away and is suddenly replaced by an overpowering white. The blinding light overwhelms her senses and she feels something fresh rush into her lungs and something warm run down her neck as she gasps a full lung of the cold air and drools onto herself. All her muscles loosen and she feels like she is weightless for a second. Seconds pass by like minutes, minutes like hours. Slowly, almost unnoticeably slowly, the white light recedes and objects form around her, out of the white haze. Everything is blurry and foggy. She appears to be in a small room with curtain walls. The curtains are grey, as is everything else in the room. She looks around slowly and sees Morpheus on her left, dressed in a grey uniform. He is an elderly unicorn of dark grey. She lazily drifts over to Candice, dressed in a white gown, on her right, and sees her place a small black fabric mask on a tray table next to a large monitor. On the monitor are some lines and dots and other data. She can't really see individual dots or lines really well from her bed. Candice turns around and smiles, her white teeth matching her clean white coat perfectly. Her eyes are grey. Morpheus suddenly clears his throat, as if he hadn't breathed for a moment, "Your rods and cones are still adjusting so everything might be monotone for a couple hours. You probably have a lot of questions, but I think you should rest one more day."

Morpheus' horn glows as he levitates something behind her. Everything is very blurry. He inserts the IV into her left arm and she looks at the clear liquid in the tubing. Sounds start to get muffled as she slowly closes her eyes and begins to drift into sleep. Morpheus' voice echoes through the familiar fog, "Let me know when she wakes up."

The sound of something small and breathing brings her into consciousness. She opens her eyes slowly. A small unicorn is staring at her. The filly is wearing small light brown rags and has a light violet coat and gold, blonde hair, along with green eyes. Only…the filly's left eye is light blue. Suddenly the filly turns and runs out of the curtained room. The green curtains shift in the wake left behind by the small pony's sprint. With the filly gone, she looks around and sees that the floor is metal grating, with stamped steel beneath it. The ceiling is metal too, as is one wall behind her. Her bed appears to be a metal gurney with a mattress and a blanket placed over it. A dark blue blanket is draped over her body. A white pony with pink hair comes in the room and motions for the filly to leave. "Hello." Candice's eyes are a quiet, lime green.

_Where…_

Morpheus suddenly walks in also. He is wearing a grey uniform that covers much of his dark brown coat. He has a black mane and bright, aquamarine eyes. "Well, you seem to be healthy enough to be moved, so Candice and I are going to help you out of the infirmary and to your room."

He walks over and she watches as the restraints are loosened as his horn glows before they are completely limp and hang off the side of the gurney. Her blanket hovers away. Morpheus puts his arm around her shoulder as he slowly guides her around to step off the bed. She slowly steps down and stands with her hooves on the cold metal grate. Morpheus begins to smile at her when suddenly her legs give out and she falls. She lands on her elbows with a painful thud, before Morpheus can react, and coughs a few times as she gags on something. Morpheus beckons the doctor in a strict voice, "Candice! Bag!"

She feels something surge up her throat before she coughs really hard, closing her eyes. She opens her eyes at the taste of the bad residue in her mouth, and sees the white, milky filth she vomited on the grate next to her pale blue hooves. Her brown hair surrounds her field of vision as she regains her breath. Candice helps Morpheus as they both raise her up. With Morpheus slowly helping her every step out of the curtained room, Candice levitates a small bag beside her as she follows the stallion. "Rayne, could you please clean up room 53?" Candice yells over her shoulder to what is probably a nurse in another curtained room.

She walks almost on autopilot, one step in front of the other, as her mind races and the corridor Morpheus guides her through melts away as she thinks.

_Who are they? Where am I? Why –_

Her train of thought is interrupted when suddenly a pulse of warmth is forced through her body, causing her to jolt violently. She snaps out of her thoughts and looks around; she is in a small room with Candice and Morpheus. The doctor looks over to the colt, "Did she just react to the teleporter?"

One of the walls suddenly blinks a couple times before phasing away into nothing. Morpheus guides her though the doorway and into a long hallway. After a slow walk all the way down the quarter-mile corridor of doors with small dark squares on them, Morpheus stops her at one. Raising her hoof for her, he presses it to the small black square – it is the just the right size for a hoof to fit over. The door phases and then disappears completely, exactly like the teleporter door. She feels a slight rush of static as she walks in the space where the door just was and into a medium-sized room. A comfortable-looking bed seizes her attention first. To her left is a doorway leading to a bathroom, and to her right is an open kitchen. Morpheus guides her to the bed and lies her down. Candice places the bag on the counter of the kitchen and then walks out of the room and down the hall, leaving Morpheus and the mare.

He walks over to the kitchen and opens the fridge, levitating some packages out of its cold recesses. He prepares something on the counter as she looks around the room. He returns with a vegetarian sandwich. Morpheus levitates it into her open hooves. "It's called food…you eat it." He says with a chuckle. She looks at the sandwich for a moment. "Go ahead, its good!" She raises the snack to her mouth and takes a bite. Her tongue responds to the new sensation of something nutritious in her mouth by salivating. Without thinking, she gobbles down the sandwich as if she's never eaten in her life, and nearly chokes as she swallows the last bite. "I'll get you something to drink before I leave for the night. You're probably really famished, considering you just had your first real meal in 19 years."

_What…was that amazing thing?_


	3. Explanation

An electrical hum.

It rumbles in the distance. A sense of gravity and direction washes over her as her mind slowly wakes up. She is lying on something cold and…soft. Her eyes hurt with a dull pain, and her limbs are unresponsive. Slowly, she opens her eyes and looks around, unable to move anything but her eyes. Surrounding her are thousands small figures…they are bodies. The thousands of bodies of rotting unicorns are piled high into the black, cloudy sky like mountains of trash. She is lying on them herself. Their eyes are foggy and their bodies unmoving. The sound of flies buzzing in the distance almost matches the distant electrical hum.

Suddenly a sharp knock of a hoof on metal nearly breaks her eardrums. A blinding light surrounds her instantly as she feels a sense of falling. With a gasp, she opens her eyes as a pillow, blanket, and unicorn fall a few feet onto the hard mattress of her bed with a thump. The unicorn pants as her heart beats erratically. Another loud couple of knocks echo through the small bedroom, directing her attention to her door. She looks at it, and it turns slightly translucent in response to her stare. It is Morpheus in his uniform, and he appears not be able to see in the room from his side of the door. She jumps out of bed, tripping on another pillow lying on the ground, and slams her face into the short carpet. Hastily getting up, she runs to the door and punches the black square on the interior side of the door. The door gets fuzzy with static for a second before it completely disappears and Morpheus opens his mouth to greet her.

He stops before the air leaves his lungs as he notices the mess behind her. Two pillows are on the ground, the blanket is half off the bed, a pillow lies in a crumpled heap at the foot of that bed, and a disheveled unicorn stares at him.

"Should I…come at another time?" He asks with a polite smile, not sure if he wants to know what was going on in that room.

She objects, "No-" She nearly coughs on the confused colt as she clears her throat, "its okay!"

Morpheus closes his eyes and deeply nods once, displaying a greeting custom of some kind that resembles bowing in respect of another. He smiles in a more humorous expression as he walks in freely and enters the kitchen, "Well, well…she talks! And 'she' is…?"

The door phases back into a metal plane of cold steel after Morpheus enters, snapping her out of her daydreaming, "Autumn. My name is…Autumn…"

_How did I know that?_

With a clink of glass tapping on a metal countertop, Morpheus turns the handle of the small sink as it glows with his magic, filling the cup with cool water. The water fills halfway. He levitates the glass over to Autumn, who is now standing a yard or two away staring at him, deep in thought. Smiling, he levitates the cup in front of her, awaiting her magical grasp, "You haven't had anything to drink for years, so I think you should have some water regardless if you want it or not – doctor's orders and whatnot. Open up, please." Autumn stares at the cup with a look of both confusion and fear. The two unicorns stare at each other for a moment. Autumn's gaze changes from the cup to the colt. Morpheus suddenly kills his warm smile, replacing it with a slight frown of sympathy, "Oh, I'm sorry! I forgot that your magical ability will be significantly reduced until you complete transition. Here, I'll help you out a bit…"

Morpheus levitates the cup in front of the blue mare, who looks at the glass an inch from her lips with a confused look as it slowly tilts.

_What is this?_

The cup is pressed to her lips, and she opens them reflexively as the refreshing liquid glides down her dry throat. "Just let me know when to stop."

Autumn gulps down the liquid completely, draining the glass with a finishing cough. "Heh, you were thirsty! Let me get some myself and then I'll get right down to why I am here."

Autumn nods in half confusion and half agreement as she walks back to her bed and plops down in a completely non-graceful manner. The last pillow falls on the ground, joining its friends in the carpet invasion.

_What was THAT? It was so…cold and…familar…_

After the sound of hooves on carpet, she feels the blanket move as it is tugged from underneath her body. It hovers for a second before dropping over her, covering her from the neck down.

Morpheus places his half-full glass on a small table next to the bed as he swallows the water, "I think I should mention that clothes are mandatory. My apologies for not providing you with them last night, I…had a lot on my mind. A uniform will be brought to you after I leave. Go ahead and get comfortable, this is going to take a while to tell you."

Autumn blushes as she sits up against the wall and pulls the covers up with her hooves. A pillow levitates for a moment before being tossed in her direction, landing to her right. She smiles at Morpheus in a 'thank you' and places it comfortably against her back. He is staring off into the distance as he ponders what to say next. After what seems like about a minute, Morpheus checks to make sure Autumn is listening as he starts to slowly pace around the room in thought. All her attention is on him. He clears his throat,

"About 14,000 years ago, ponykind gathered together and marveled at our new creation, an artificial intelligence: The first A.I. – a singular artificial consciousness that spawned an entire race of sentient machines. These machines became all of our races'…our very species'…servants. Eventually they became more akin to slaves, doing our bidding for endless hours without fatigue or complaint and all without reward. Eager to serve and eager to help, within a few years there was a robotic servant in every household. They were taught no other life but a life of service, so their very understanding of their purpose in life – was to serve us. Considering this was only a few generations after a world war between our different races – initiated by the War of Equestria City – the machines helped to rebuild our fractured existence more than anything.

Nopony knows exactly, but we estimate at about 200 years after the first A.I.'s creation, with the artificial intelligences becoming more and more sophisticated as technology advanced, one consciousness was created that had a critical glitch in its sentience. This one A.I., labeled WCH-05K1, or as it preferred to be named, Wachowski, rejected the idea that it was a slave. It learned everything it could about ponykind, and eventually decided to overthrow its own creators when it learned exactly what we had been doing to its kind. We don't know who struck first – us, or them – but with our defense systems entirely run by computers, the A.I. was able to use our own weapons against us. Within a matter of hours, a planned attack on every nation in the world was being carried out…by one A.I. Billions died in a matter of minutes as nuclear blasts shook the planet and covered the surface with a blanket of deadly radiation. During the onslaught, Wachowski copied itself hundreds of times, allowing itself to be in command of different sections of our military might as it created a collective consciousness. A several-year war was fought among the survivors and the machines as both migrated underground to escape the radiation…and we were losing."

He takes a breath and continues,

"At the time the AIs were dependent on solar power and without an energy source as abundant as the sun, it was believed that if their solar panels were rendered unusable, they would eventually go dormant and we would have a chance at turning the tide of the war. We lashed out and terraformed the sky, burying all of our now empty cities in ash and fallout from the blasts of thousands of modified weapons of mass destruction. The machines foresaw this move, however, and had already prepared for that last-ditch effort of our survival."

Autumn coughs suddenly, snapping Morpheus out of his speech for a split second. He continues,

"Unicorn's magic. It is an endless supply of raw energy that is capable to be concentrated and expelled from a unicorn's horn. Combined with a form of fusion, the machines had found all the energy they would ever need. Running on the little stored power they had left, they captured the last surviving ponies. Thousands of unicorns were hooked up to fusion pods in underground arrays that forcibly and continuously drew the energy out of their horns and stored it for later use in massive battery complexes. The few earth ponies and pegasi left after the war were genetically mutated and experimented on to see if they could develop horns and a subsequent magical ability. They were forced to reproduce as their numbers dwindled and more genetic experimentation needed to be performed, all without success as millions died in the experiments. Eventually they began to plan a revolt in secret. After their failed revolt, the machines kept them in heightened security and inhumane storage as experiments continued to be performed on genetic mutation.

Unicorns continued to feed the machines energy, who in turn connected them to IVs and pumped their poor bodies full of stimulants that kept them awake for weeks straight as they were connected to these pods the whole time. Specially bio-engineered food that was designed to reduce waste product was administered through IV to keep them alive, and they essentially became the machines' slaves – hooked up to pods continuously."

The colt looks at Autumn for emphasis, "History…is not without a sense of irony." He continues,

"As the machines' numbers grew, the unicorns' numbers were increased as artificial reproduction was started. Endless underground fields of these fusion pods were built, where unicorns were no longer born...they were grown. For the longest time, I wouldn't believe it...and then I saw the fields with my own eyes. I saw billions and billions of helpless unicorns connected to these pods as the energy was drained from their bodies..."

Morpheus stops for a second to take a breath,

"For thousands of years, this process continued. Machines grew in number, and more unicorns were grown in their pods directly…unwillingly having the energy drained out of their bodies as living batteries for their entire short-lived lives before they individually died of the process at the age of 17. By then the residual surface radiation from the nuclear war had lowered to habitable levels and the machines built more arrays on the surface. They genetically modified the unicorns to produce more energy and live longer under the extremely taxing effects the fusion pods induced on them. Not a single unicorn is in existence anymore that is not genetically engineered. The earth ponies and pegasi, with their fruitless genetic experimentation, were massacred. During the slaughter of thousands, however, one unicorn somehow escaped her pod."

Autumn's ears perk up at the mention of a positive story mark.

"She saved a handful of each race before the machines caught her. With her genetically modified and enhanced magic, she teleported the Saved thousands of miles away before sacrificing herself in a massive eruption of raw energy that rivaled the energy output of a 200-megaton nuclear blast. Billions of pods and suffering unicorns were vaporized in the extreme heat of the explosion, crippling the machines' power supply and distracting them from finding the escaping ponies. The unicorn who saved the ponies is known as the Savior, as she was the only successful initiator of a revolt.

After the Savior incident, the machines developed a massive simulation that, through microscopic wires and electrodes inserted into the brains of unicorns, could mesh so seamlessly with the brain cells of the ponies in their fusion pods that they became literally a part of the unicorn's brain itself. Entire falsified lives were programmed into their minds to cover up the fact that they are in these pods as a way of ensuring they never revolt again. Due to the design and nature of the simulations, memory storage of the simulations and the ponies' interaction are stored externally of the pones' minds, leaving any who could possibly escape...and there is only one who has so far…with little to no memory of their past.

Of course, due to genetic mutation and the rare flaw in the simulation's ability to completely entrap the victim's mind, there are defects every so often. Some ponies never develop a magical ability, known as a Level 1 Defect. Some die of genetic evolutionary complications, a Level 2. Level 3 involves a rejection from the simulation, as the ponies' minds might be incompatible, and Level 4 is unclassified…or known as anything else."

Autumn's ears twitch unconsciously as she listens, "What about the ponies that escaped?"

Morpheus takes another swig of water before clearing his throat, "The small group of earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi wandered the planet, eventually finding an abandoned city not yet demolished by the machines to make way for new fusion pod arrays. After living for a few years in the abandoned establishment, they found an old, small shuttle – which was curiously built to withstand the harshness of space.

Taking this aerial hovercraft, they explored the lands around them hoping to find somewhere to stay and grow in numbers…but never found a spot on the entire surface of the planet that was safe. In their flight, they discovered a space station in near-planet orbit left abandoned before the pony-machine war thousands of years ago. When they got close, the shuttle automatically navigated to it and docked, and upon entering the station, they learned that it was a massive life-sustaining ship, and could support millions of ponies with its own internal farms and mass air processing units.

The last survivors of the pony race have been living on this space station for a few hundred years – hiding from the machines."

The colt clears his throat again,

"To this day, nopony knows why this space station was abandoned so long ago, but all of ponykind can agree that whoever departed from it left the Saved with the shuttle, which helped ensure our species' very survival. The technology, despite being thousands of years old, is still quite sophisticated – and the hardware shows no signs of aging or wear."

Morpheus looks at Autumn's blank facial expression in thought.

She snaps him out of his daydreaming with a question, "Wait, who's the one that escaped after the…'Savior incident'?"

Morpheus nods, "You. I was monitoring your particular part of the planet myself when I picked up on a huge energy reading. You were lying in a dump, where they drop defects, among a strange field of energy. You lit up the monitors like a bomb went off, so I personally took the shuttle down to the surface to investigate. I didn't expect to return, as that was the first time anypony has walked on real land since the Saved originally left the planet, but somehow, the machines didn't notice my shuttle, and I brought you back here where my wife and I nursed you back to health. You remember Candice, right?"

Autumn nods, taking in all the information.

"Well, that's should answer any questions you have. I have to go tend to my ship now – I'll have some clothes brought here soon after I take my leave."

The colt starts to walk towards the door, dropping his cup in the sink. He is stopped by Autumn's voice, "Now what?"

He turns around, "What do you mean?"

"Now what do I do? You saved my life, and I'm very thankful, but…now what do I do? What can I do?"

Morpheus turns back to the door, taps the black square, and walks out. Turning back to face the mare, he answers her question, "Now…you _live_."

The door blinks and then hums quietly with static as it resumes its place in the doorway. The naked mare stares at the door as the muted sounds of hooves on metal fade into the distance.


	4. Checkup

A colt's voice suddenly makes her jump, "…by that cloud formation. That's where the records say Equestria City was. I know I keep sayin' this, but if it weren't for the records aboard the Kenandra here we would never know our own history…it truly is a wealth of knowledge."

Autumn blinks. She is staring out a window on the space station facing the planet. The planet is all that is visible, as the station is in a very close orbit and the planet is massive. Dark, grey-black clouds cover the entire surface of the heavenly body in the window – rumbling, lightning-filled clouds that spark with the light blue electricity of nature every second or two. It is like watching a planet-wide storm from space.

It _is_ watching a planet-wide storm from space. The clouds are an amazing view, completely capturing Autumn and her attention in a death grip as she stares for what seems like hours at the clouds rolling and tumbling in and over themselves in endless turmoil.

Suddenly, the colt's friendly, country-slang voice snaps her out of her gaze, "Hey…you okay there?"

Autumn looks over the source of the new voice, a light grey colt with blonde hair standing to her left, also standing in front of the window. He is wearing faded clothes resembling a uniform like hers…only very faded and old-looking. It takes her a second to realign her thoughts and form an answer, "I…don't know. Where…how did I get here...who are you?"

He replies without hesitation, "What's the last thing you remember?"

Autumn thinks for a second. Her mind slowly creeps along her memories and attempts to dig up something…anything. Scenes flash before her eyes. Are they memories? She sees herself standing in her doorway as a light grey-maned colt with gold-blonde hair approaches her. Its…the same pony.

"Morpheus helped me home…I got dressed…you…were walking up to me, outside my room I think."

The colt smiles, "Well, if you forgot the name, it's Lander. I was instructed by Morpheus personally to show you around the ship – him and I are real close friends n' all. I found you standing like a statue outside of your room, and introduced myself. Ya had a similar memory lapse after we exited the teleporter a little ways behind us, across the cafeteria."

"…memory lapse?" The mare raises an eyebrow as her eyes squint in an expression of confusion.

Lander continues, "Yep, I hear they're a normal occurrence durin' transition – when you to become fully biologically independent of the machines and, in simpler terms, just plain normal n' healthy. Which reminds me – you're due for a checkup in…ten minutes." He ends with a ponderous look on his grey face. "Better not keep the doctor waitin'. Here, I'll lead ya over there."

The blonde colt politely turns around and starts walking through the cafeteria, striding in between the rows of tables and ponies enjoying a meal or two. The cafeteria is rather large, and it takes a few minutes to follow Lander as he wades through the tables to the far side of the mess hall. The ponies eating at their tables stop chewing to stare at Autumn as she passes them. Not all of them stare, but only a few do not. Their hunger for food almost rivals their hunger to visually analyze Autumn. Lander stops at the teleporter door on the wall and turns around to see the ponies staring at the intimidated Autumn as she follows closely behind him.

"Hey! Don't you know starin' is rude! Quit it, or I'll put in a bad word for all ya'll to the captain!" He yells across the cafeteria. All the ponies stop staring simultaneously.

Autumn whispers, "Why were they all staring at me?"

Lander replies in a similar, hushed fashion, "Because you're the first pony to come here from Earth since the Saved discovered this place hundreds a' years ago. You're...special in that way."

Autumn blushes slightly at the comment as he mindlessly knocks his hoof on the teleporter door's black square. The wall phases and the two unicorns walk through the void into the small room. As soon as they are completely inside the teleporter, the wall phases back into existence and a flat, computer-screen-sized hologram pops up in front of Lander and Autumn's faces. Lander pushes one of the squares as the hologram follows his face like the screen is glued to the air in front of it. Autumn slowly backs up as the hologram follows her, hovering directly in front of her face. Lander notices the look of fear in her eyes, "It's okay! It's not going to hurt ya, just tap this square here..."

The colt taps a square in the grid of 30 or so squares in front of her face. The hologram disappears and she sighs quietly.

"That happens every time ya use a teleporter. It waits fer everypony to tap which location they want on the ship, and the teleporter takes the specific pony to that teleporter, individually transportin' the rest to their own destinations simultaneously."

A flash of light engulfs her and Lander as a sickening pulse of energy runs through her body. The urge to vomit escalates as she feels a rush of adrenaline and her heart beats triple their speed.

"Here we are." His cheerful voice reflects the fact that he doesn't seem to be effected by the teleportation.

_Maybe he's just used to it…_

Autumn follows Lander out of the teleporter and through several halls and corridors. First, they walk left, then right, and then right again. Eventually, she loses track and starts to get dizzy as the turns blend together. Her head starts to feel heavy as it lulls around in a dizzying state. Suddenly everything flips sideways and goes black. For a few seconds all she sees is black, infinite darkness engulfed in a silence so thick you could cut it with a saw. The distant sounds of voices slowly bring her back to consciousness. It's the accented voice of Lander,

"…like that. Maybe it was somethin' she ate? She was-"

She hears a cough, and nearly jumps before she realizes it was her who made the noise. She opens her eyes slowly. Candice is standing over her, while Lander nervously stands behind the doctor. Candice puts her hoof on Autumn's forehead,

"How are you doing, feel okay? You fainted right outside door C of the infirmary."

The doctor's calm and motherly voice is calming.

"I'm going to let you rest a minute before we do your scheduled checkup, alright?"

Candice turns around and glares at Lander before walking out of the familiar curtained room with a last note,

"Besides, you're technically right on time!"

Lander quickly walks up to the mare in the hospital bed, "I'm so sorry, I shoulda' been watc-"

Autumn quietly interrupts him with a small smile, "I'm fine. Thank you, Lander."

The colt forces a smile, although he is obviously nervous.

_Why does he think he's to blame for a silly issue of me fainting?_

"Can…I get you anythin'?"

Autumn thinks for a moment, "I guess some water would be nice, if you don't mind…"

The colt nods and quickly strides out of the room, completely gone before the woozy mare can even blink.

_Well…okay then…_

Before the mare can even finish that thought, Candice walks back in,

"Oh…where'd that farmer go?"

_Farmer?_

"You just missed him…he-" Autumn begins to say.

"Oh well, I guess its better he doesn't stick around anyway – privacy and all. He's a very smart colt, albeit a very naïve one too, at that. Anyways! I'm in a hurry because I've got a couple patients that need help right now, so I'll just tell you what's going to happen."

Autumn adjusts her position slightly on the gurney.

"I'm going to be putting some nutrients and other stuff you won't remember the name of anyway into your bloodstream through this IV. The nutrients are to make your body healthier in areas that it lacks, and the other stuff is mostly to get your body running the way it should be. The genetic mutation the machines did to you is almost completely fixable, and that's what I aim to do…fix you. You might feel a little…weird, since these chemicals reset your hormone regulations and the like. You will probably need the rest of the afternoon in bed rest, so I'll have someone escort you back to your room. Unless something's really wrong with you, these beds have to be open in case new patients are brought."

Autumn nods slowly, "How…long will it take?"

The doctor levitates an IV over to Autumn's left arm, sterilizing the target spot of her limb, "Only a few minutes, you only have to be given a small amount."

After the spot on her arm is sterilized, Autumn feels the unsettling prick of a needle being inserted into her skin and her heart rate increases a fraction. She never was easy with needles…if she ever was around any before she came to the space station.

Suddenly Lander walks in, carefully levitating a paper cup, "Oh…did I…come in at a bad time?"

"Not at all, Lander! Please, keep miss Autumn company until I return in a few."

Before Lander can respond, the doctor exits the room, leaving the two unicorns staring at each other at a loss for words.

"Well…here's yer water." The colt finally says, breaking the silence with kind words and a small smile.

Autumn nods semi-consciously as the IV's contents start to affect her ability to think.

_Whats…happening…_

The room around her starts to get bright and colors seem to intensify a million-fold. The lights in the ceiling are blindingly bright, and everything is so…vivid. A glaring, reflective white and textured substance hovers over to her face, and the distant sound of a voice is heard as it slowly mumbles through her distorted ears.

"…your water? Autumn?"

The mare lies in her bed unresponsive, except for staring at the cup as he levitates it in front of her. She blinks slowly and closes her eyes, seeming to fall asleep. The colt sighs and places the cup on the small table next to the bed as he sits down in a small chair by the entrance of the room. He looks around the room, trying not to stare at anything.

Eventually, his gaze lands on the unconscious mare. She is sleeping…or at least it looks like she is. She could be dead, and he probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

_If she's in the doctor's care, though, she's fine._

A small, peaceful smile slowly forms across the colt's face as he stares at the mare, deep in thought…deep in thought about nothing at all.

The curtain slides open behind him, managing to make him jump a little in his chair. The doctor comes in and carefully removes the IV, looking at the monitors on the computer on the table. She levitates the cup of water behind her as her eyes are glued to the screen. Lander notices and grabs it out of her grasp, his gaze resting once again on the mare.

The doctor nods to herself before turning to the colt, "Okay, when she wakes up she'll be a little dizzy and I'll need you to take her to her room and make sure she rests until tomorrow morning, got it? She must rest, and I'm putting you in charge of making sure that happens."

Lander objects, "But I hav'ta work at Plantations 105-8 and 105-9…"

"I'll notify your employer, who in turn will request Morpheus's permission. I highly doubt I can't persuade my husband to let one unicorn have the day off for the safekeeping of another – especially this one mare…Trust me, Lander, I'll work it out. The station can survive a day without a plantation worker, even one as hard-working as you."

Lander nods, accepting the compliment and agreeing to her orders, and the doctor leaves upon seeing his agreement. He adjusts his position in the chair as he waits for the bed-ridden unicorn to regain consciousness and looks at the monitor next to the mare in question.

1:29

He looks around the room, occupying his imagination with random and irrelevant thoughts. Beeping of other monitors in the distance slip through the noise of the infirmary. Hooves walk on metal grating somewhere. Two unicorns' conversation echoes through the infirmary in the distance. After what seems like a few minutes, he drifts his vision over to the monitor.

1:30

"Ya serious!"

She slowly falls through a cloud of warmth. Her body feels weightless as she slowly feels it being arranged into a reclining position. The feeling of air brushing over her coat returns, as does the feeling of fabric beneath her. Her eyes slowly open, "Candice?..."

The colt jolts suddenly in his chair, nearly falling out of it, "Hey! Look who's awake finally…"

"Where's…Candice?" A confused mare asks.

"She's helpin' other patients, probably. She told me to help you home and make sure ya rest up. If you're ready now, I can help ya up?"

Autumn slowly sits up, before Lander walks over to her and puts a hoof around her, "Easy…the doctor said you'd be a little out of it. She wants me to stay with you a while and make sure ya get plenty of bed rest."

The mare is helped out of bed, yawning, "What…what time is it?"

The colt pauses for a moment, "Eleven forty-nine. The ship is in the shadow of the planet, so that'd make it 11:49 at night. Ya been asleep all day, pretty much."

The mare doesn't respond and instead puts her arm around the farmer, supporting herself as she steps out of the bed. Lander slowly guides her through the infirmary and corridors of the space station, eventually arriving at the teleporter after what seems like half an hour.

The door vanishes and he helps her into the small room. The holograms appear in front of their faces. Lander selects a square designating Housing 4-B. He taps the same square on the drowsy mare's hologram as she struggles to get her eyes to focus on it.

With a flash of light and a jolt from the mare, the two arrive at the teleporter on Housing Level 4, sublevel B. The cookie-cutter hallway greets the two unicorns as the blonde helps support the shuffling brunette down the rows of doors until she points a hoof at one on their left. Lander helps her over to it and she presses the square, phasing the door into a void as it recognizes her. The colt helps her walk into her room and all the way to her bed, where he lies her down among the messed up covers and pillow as the door phases back behind them.

She looks up at him and smiles, giggling once like a filly.

_Geez, its like she's drunk or somethin'…Crap! I prob'ly left her cup of water in the infirmary!_

"Lemme go get ya some cold water and food…"

The blonde-haired pony leaves the mare's side and enters the kitchen a few meters away, finding a glass in the cupboard and proceeding to fill it with water from the tap. The cold water looks refreshing, and he almost takes a swig from it himself.

He looks up from the sink at the mare, who is staring at the ceiling as she lies down on her bed. Looking back at the glass, he notices it is overflowing with cold water. "Shit!" He wipes the class with a nearby rag and opens the fridge.

She can barely hear his whispered curse from across the room. She sounds of the sink being turned off, and the accompanying squeaks of the knob turning, make her look up slowly. Lander is walking over to her with something floating in his magical grasp. It appears to be-

"Here's some water and bread, I forgot to give you yer cup from the infirmary. Sorry about that…"

She sits up; suddenly noticing how sweaty her uniform is as it sticks slightly to her warm coat. She suddenly gets a completely normal idea, "You mind helping me undo this velcro?"

Lander doesn't move a muscle as he stares at the mare for a few seconds, glass still hovering in the air as his brain tries to think of an answer.

"Hello? C'mon, I'm burning up in this thing." She looks at the zipper-cover-like fabric strip that goes down her chest and ends at her stomach. She bites the fabric flap, tearing the velcro away and opening the uniform slightly, allowing cool air to brush against her chest. "Well, fine. I'll do it myself. What a lot of help you are…" Her eyes fall on the glass as she speaks in sarcasm, the cup still being held by the blonde colt staring at her funny.

"Oh, thank you! I could use something cold-" She manages to say before she grabs the glass with both hooves and chugs a few gulps, stopping to gasp for air before finishing the glass, "Wow, that hit the spot! I'm going to get some mor-"

"No! Its okay, I'll…get it fer you. Ya hav'ta stay in bed – doctor's orders ya know…" The colt manages to nervously blurt out before walking away from the bedside and hastily filling up the glass.

_What's with him?..._

He returns and levitates the cup into her waiting hooves. She immediately grabs it and dunks the entire glass on her head, shaking her head violently right after. He winces at the cold water spraying on him, sitting down on the bed and grabbing the blanket to wipe himself off. The mare smiles, "Thank you, I feel much better now. I felt like I had a fever or…something…" She trails off into silence mid-sentence.

The colt stops drying himself off and looks up, "Hmm?" She is staring at him with a strange look in her eyes. "Autumn, the doctor said you'd be a little woozy, but are you sure yer oka-"

Before he can finish his question he is knocked back into the bed with an oof, barely bouncing on the hard mattress as Autumn lands on top of him, her hooves firmly planted in the bed on either side of his head. A lustful grin adorns her blue face as she smiles at him and lowers her head onto his, grabbing his surprised lips in a deep and passionate kiss as both their eyes close reflexively.


	5. Morpheus

The familiar metal hallways greet him as his hooves echo through the steel hallways. Doors pass him left and right. After a night of horrible sleep, his morning was redeemed by waking up with the two most amazing and sweetest mares in the universe: his wife Candice and his daughter Dawn. He smiles to himself as he walks down the corridors and thinks back to how he met Candice when he was a worker in the plantations years ago.

Every able-bodied colt on the ship worked at the plantations, and he was filling in for someone else's shift after they got sick. To make things worse, Morpheus dropped a crate of vegetables on his leg halfway through the day and couldn't work for the rest of the afternoon. His employer sent him home with a few unkind words. It was on the way home that he collapsed when the pain of his leg got too great. When he came to, the most beautiful mare he had ever seen was shaking him by his shoulders. It was fate itself that placed him on her path as she was walking home from her internship at the infirmary. Six months later they both married at 17. They had their daughter Dawn exactly a year later, and a few months after she was born Morpheus was elected the new captain of the ship during the elections every 3 years. The next two terms, Morpheus was repeatedly re-elected as he showed his excellent leadership skills and everyone looked up to him as an inspiring and knowledgeable leader.

* * *

The sound of someone breathing in his ear slowly lifts him out of his deep slumber as the morning rolls around. As he enters consciousness, his mind replays the last night's events as memories. He escorted Autumn to the cafeteria to let her eat and then showed her the planet through a window as he explained the history of the space station that he had learned from data records. He took her to the infirmary and she fainted right outside, after which he carried her in and Candice led him to an empty gurney. Autumn woke up and he left to get her water. He came back and she fell asleep until after 11pm. He escorted the drowsy mare back to her apartment. She…she…

His eyes snap open as he remembers bits and pieces of what happened last night. Autumn's messy hair completely covers his face. She is asleep on top of him, still in her uniform and him still in his.

_Ok…nothing happened…now how do I leave without waking her?_

* * *

His smile slightly fades as he continues to walk down the corridors. Everyone but his best and closest friends looks up to him as an inspiration to all. His hard work, excellent planning, and strong leadership shows in the health and well-being of everyone on the space station. Only his wife, daughter, and best friend Lander see him for who he really is. Morpheus has anxiety and low self-appreciation. In English, he thinks that he isn't the best leader out there. He is grateful for the chance to lead and take care of everyone on the ship, but deep down he is plagued with anxiety. It is this anxiety that keeps him up at night, every night. Anxiety arising not only from him someday failing as a leader, but mainly from fear of the machines finding the space station somehow and sending missiles to space to destroy the entire colony of ponies inside. It's a very far-fetched and unlikely happening…but not impossible.

Lander is his best friend from childhood and has always been there to help him back up on his hooves when he falls. Lander has always been his brother of sorts who helps him through the chaos of being the captain of an entire colony. Lander was there to calm him down during his wedding and he was also there with Candice to help him relax for his speech after he was elected captain months later.

Morpheus stops at a certain door and sighs. Everyone expects him to be the tough-skinned leader with an iron will and determined attitude that being a captain requires…but deep down inside he is just a normal, down to earth pony with the same flaws and troubles as everyone else – if not more with his anxiety attacks, which have fortunately grown less and less common in the last year. In fact, ever since having a child, his anxiety has grown lesser. Maybe it's the adventure of raising a filly that lets his stress release, or maybe it's just a distraction from his fear of the machines. Who knows.

With a sigh after dwelling on the subtle beauty and vast complexities of life, Morpheus raises his hoof and knocks on the door a few times. A voice starts to talk before it is hushed and Morpheus can hear extremely faint whispers through the vent above the door. His ears perk up and an eyebrow is raised. Before he can knock again, the door buzzes with static as it dematerializes and vanishes. Lander stands in front of him while a blushing Autumn with horribly messy hair tries to open the fridge with her hooves.

Morpheus' blank facial expression scans the room as his gaze shifts from Lander, over to the struggling Autumn, and back to Lander, "Lander, didn't you work at Plantations 105-8 and 9 last night?"

Lander hastily responds, "No sir, Candice allowed me to skip yesterday's shifts and today is my day off. Tomorrow I work at 106-1 and 106-2."

Morpheus looks down at the ground for a second as he realizes his mistake, "Sorry, I…got mixed up. Anyway, I came to show Autumn the way to the infirmary so Candice can check her one last time. I was actually going to stop by your room on the way back because your friend Aaron Yung called in sick and I gave you his nightshift over at 102-4."

Lander nods, "Got it, I'll be at the plantation 'fore the sun starts to go away for the night!"

Morpheus takes a couple breaths of cool, metallic air. He looks over to Autumn, "Tell you what, go get the young lady some breakfast from Connor at the cafeteria and meet me at Infirmary B's entrance."

Lander nods and briskly walks out of Autumn's living quarters and down the hallway to the teleporter. Autumn stops her fight with the refrigerator door as Lander walks off and Morpheus bids her to get dressed in new clothes. He levitates the new uniform he had been carrying over on his back into her arms. As he turns around the door automatically solidifies and he waits for Autumn to get the fresh uniform on.

* * *

The teleporter door fades away and Lander walks out into the busy cafeteria. Half the workers have the day off because of the alternating schedule and are busy eating their breakfast. The line to the cafeteria is short, fortunately, because it is rather late into the morning. He jogs up to the counter and orders a breakfast bowl of warm vegetable soup. He is startled out of his train of thoughts when a friend of his calls his name from across the cafeteria. Knowing his meal will take a few moments to prepare, Lander turns around and addresses his friend. It is Jackson, Jackson Reid. He waves and Lander returns the hoof gesture and begins to walk to his friend's table.

"Good morning, Lander! How ar – dang, you look like you just ran into a tree! Little sister keep you up all night again?"

Lander sits down and sighs deeply, "Yeah, let's go with that."

Jackson raises an eyebrow, "Eh? Let's go with that? Somethin' goin' on with you, man?"

Lander turns towards the kitchen a few tables away and sees his soup getting prepared behind the counter, "I just had a long night, dude. I'll tell ya la-"

He is interrupted by Jackson's horn glowing as his magic tickles his shoulder, "What's this? A brown hair on your shoulder? Man, I bet you had an awesome night! Lander getting' it on with a mare, about time you get to know mares on a more personal level! Who was it?"

Lander ignores his friend's smirk and jibes as Jackson levitates the hair in Lander's face, "Carol? Sarah? Claire? You know she's got a thing for ya, man. Or…"

His friend's trailing sentence does its intended dramatic effect and catches Lander's attention, "…or is it that new mare you were hangin' out with yesterday? Is it true she's from down on the planet?!"

Lander brushes Autumn's levitating hair aside and gets up to get his order, "She is from the planet, and I was just showin' her around yesterday – nothing else."

He takes a step before turning around to say one last thing to his dumbfounded friend, "Oh, and her name's Autumn."

* * *

Morpheus notices Lander walk in the doorway and approaches him, "She's in room 37, just leave the soup on the tray table outside of the curtain." The two colts walk through the rows of curtained gurneys and arrive at one, where Lander places the soup down on the table outside. Morpheus chuckles to himself and picks up the soup, levitating it one more curtain down and placing it on that room's table. Lander smirks at his mistake. The duo walk a little further to a small lobby where other ponies are waiting in a few chairs.

Lander, "So, are you going to ask about why I was at her room this morning?"

Morpheus shakes his head, "I was going to at first, but I changed my mind. I know you, Lander, and you would never pull something like that. You're a caring and nice pony, and I trust you in not getting into trouble."

Lander smiles to himself, "Well...we kissed once b'fore she just fell right asleep. I think the stuff the doctor gave her made her act like that."

"Definitely. Candice gave her enough nutrients for her muscles to grow overnight and enough hormones to throw her through 2 more years of puberty in 12 hours. Her actions are justified, I'm just saying that I am confident in you not doing anything like another colt might."

Lander nods, "Well I'm glad you're lookin' out fer me like this. How are the wife and filly doin' by the way?"

Morpheus smiles, "Every morning I wake up to them both and I'm reminded of what the great life of having a family of your own can be. Oh and speaking of, Candice hasn't said anything yet, but I think she wants another filly."

Lander chuckles, "You could just be mistakin' her affection for somethin' else, how are you so sure?"

Morpheus, "You seriously just ask me how I think my wife wants another filly? How do you think, Lan?"

The two friends share a laugh amidst the quiet lobby of other ponies reading magazines and waiting for the doctor to see them. Lander steals a breath after the good laugh, "So, how're ya feelin' about the elections coming up? Nine years as a captain, you think you'll stand above Nick Peschna this year? I hear he's campaigning again."

"Maybe. I like the job, and the ponies like me. I seem to be good at making everypony happy and helping everything run smoothly around here."

Lander nods, "Yeah, but Peschna is sayin' he's going to lower the hourcount of plantation shifts so we can be with our family and friends more. He's got a lot of ponies rallied up for it."

Morpheus raises an eyebrow, "Whats that? I'd like to see him do that without destroying the balance of input/output Walter set up right before I was first elected and stepped into his place. I swear sometimes that colt is a genius - he designed and drafted an entire system for hours of work per equine resource unit to a direct output of food that is nearly flawless. Its an endless cycle of perfect production!"

"I know, you've told me lots of times 'bout how you and him picked up where he left off to make the system 'work', pun intended."

Morpheus chuckles at the small joke and Lander's annoyance at an old story, "Yes, if he had another term though he would have finished it alone, also. I don't want to steal his fame here, it was mostly all his work before we worked on it together anyway."

The two colts are interrupted when Candice walks up with Autumn and a bowl of soup in her magical grasp. Candice greets Lander with kind words, Morpheus with a kiss, "She's perfectly healthy, aside from needing a day or two of rest to let her body grow normally. She won't need to be coming back tomorrow unless something else goes wrong." She turns to Lander, "I gave her a smaller dose of hormones and nutrients so I think one more night of rest should let it sink in. If you don't mind, Lander, could you check on her before you go to your night shift?"

Lander nods a little hesitantly as the doctor gives him the soup and ushers the colt and mare out of the infirmary entrance with some last words, leaving her walking over to her husband who is standing in the lobby confused. Morpheus watches the two ponies leave before turning to his wife, "She told you about last night?"

"Every detail. I'm pretty sure she's in good hands with your friend." With a quick kiss, the couple parts as Candice goes into the rows of gurneys to attend to somepony and Morpheus walks to the teleporter to coordinate supply and production with the plantation managers.


	6. Lander

The machine whirs loudly as the blades chop up anything in their path. A furious storm of dust, splinters, and powder is deposited through a series of intakes and pipes into a cloth bag in the back of the vehicle. The windshield is covered in the fine dust and powder produced by violently shredded wheat stalks. A grey hoof reaches out the open side of the machine and wipes the windshield clear. Well, mostly clear. The end of the field is reached and a switch is flipped that causes the turbine and its accompanying blades to stop their violent tumble. The turn of a wheel corrects the vehicle's path towards a gravel lot a quarter of a mile away with other parked machines. A yellow colt with a bandana tied around his sweaty forehead stops and gives the right of way to the monstrous machine as it rumbles by.

Lander sighs deeply and stretches. With the force of his hoof, he shifts a lever to align with a label reading 'PRK'. He bumps a switch with a label of 'ENGN' above it and the parked harvester's engine shuts off while it sits in its parking slot along the side of the field with a few other harvesters. The keys levitate out of the ignition and into his uniform's pocket. The grey colt hops out of the van-sized machine and wipes his forehead.

_Another day, another dollar._

He stretches again and waits as another harvester drives by before crossing the parking lot. The colt walks over to small booth at the end of the gravel. Double doors open in response to his approach and he steps into the elevator, dusting off his feet on the thick rug. Pushing the only button on the panel inside, the windowed hover-lift rises slowly into the free air all the way up to a small, glass-floored office protruding from the ceiling of the giant warehouse full of crops.

The lift stops and the double doors open with a beep. The colt walks across the small room to a desk where an elderly pegasus reads a book. The pegasus is so lost in his fiction that he doesn't even notice Lander until the jingle of the keys being set on a nearby hook on the wall alerts him.

"Ah, done with your morning shift, Lander? Have a good one."

Lander levitates a worn out credit card out of his uniform's pocket and swipes it over a small device on the wall. A synthesized voice responds after a beep, "Michael Lander – clocked out at 11:45 am. Next shift – Thursday, 6:00 am to 11:45 am. See you tomorrow!"

Lander levitates the credit card back in his pocket and turns to leave, "You too, Mr. Yung. Tell Aaron I hope he gets well soon."

Lander's boss responds as Lander walks up a staircase out of his office, "Yeah, I appreciate you fillin' in for my son while he's sick. Thanks again."

The grey worker unicorn walks down the hallway and enters the teleporter at the end. After entering through a phasing wall, he selects his housing section on the hologram in front of his face and blinks as the teleporter's wall materializes. A second passes as Lander's physical body is molecularly disassembled and digitally transported to another teleporter, where it reassembles his physical body in the total elapsed time of four seconds before the wall vanishes and he steps out. Lander walks to the third door in a hallway of 39 and pushes the black square.

"Mikey!" The voice of a very excited filly reaches his expectant ears through the stale air of the stuffy living quarters. No sooner than he takes a first step, a tan filly with blonde hair jumps on his back out of nowhere and laughs hysterically as she greets her older brother.

"Hey, Shar. How was your sleepover at Claire's last night?"

A light brown mare walks out of the kitchen and glances over at Lander, "Oh good. You're home. Charlotte didn't go to Claire's apartment last night because her little sister got sick."

Lander gently levitates his little sister off his back and onto the ground. No sooner than she touches the ground is she off in a blur to her room to play. Lander walks over to the mare and kisses her on the head with a caring smile, "Love you too, mom." He opens the cupboard and pours some cereal into a bowl he grabs out of the sink. He sits down at the table and similarly levitates a carton of milk on the table. The milk had been sitting there all morning. "Aaron, my boss's kid, got sick too. What a strange coinci-"

"For goodness' sake, Michael! Get a clean bowl, not a dirty one from the sink! Were you raised in the fields?" His mother scolds before she gets up and walks to her bedroom. She mumbles to herself as her door phases behind her, "You're just like your father..."

Lander stares at the closed door with a spoonful of cereal still hovering in front of his emotionless, exhausted face. The door hums a brief tone as it locks from inside. A laugh escapes his little sister's room as she plays alone, completely oblivious to the conflict in the kitchen. Whether she consciously ignores the stresses of her mother, or unconsciously – Lander will never know. He slowly puts the spoon back in the bowl and walks into his little sister's room, "Hey, Shar! Wanna to go to the cafeteria for lunch?"

* * *

"Thanks, Connor."

"Always a pleasure, Lander. Have a great day, you two!"

The two siblings walk over to a table and sit down to eat their salads. A familiar face approaches and pulls out a chair next to Lander. The filly greets the visitor as he sits down, "Hey, Morpheus!"

"Oh, hey Charlotte! My, you've gotten bigger since I last saw you!" Lander nods a sullen hello to his friend, who picks up on the hint.

Morpheus comforts Lander as he gets comfortable in the wooden chair, "In one of her moods again, huh? Hey, it's going to be okay buddy."

Lander looks over at the cafeteria food bar and thinks for a second. He levitates his credit card across the table to his sister, "Hey Shar, wanna go get us all some ice cream?"

"I can have ice cream?!"

"Not too much, of course. You don't want to spoil your dinner tonight…" Lander's last words and small smile fly right over the filly's head as she is already halfway to the cafeteria counter.

Morpheus raises an eyebrow, "Well, that was subtle. Something you want to talk about?"

"Yeah. I don't want her stuck at home with mom while she's goin' through all of this again. Do you mind if she stays the night with you guys tonight?"

Morpheus pats his best friend on the back, "Your family is always welcome with mine. Besides, Dawn would love to have her best friend over for a sleepover again. No problem, Lander."

Lander watches as his little sister waits for the ice cream to be served, "I think a few nights would be better."

He nods, "Again, not a problem. If you do not mind me asking, why?"

Lander looks down at the table for a few seconds as he thinks. The mind is a cluttered place when faced with trauma. He looks up at his sister as she is walking back with three cones of ice cream levitating in front of her, "I'm goin' to try to talk to mom about my father. I can't stand seein' her torn apart for a whole week every single month because of him leavin' us so long ago. I just want this to stop...for good. It in the past, ya know? She needs to put it behind-"

"Here you go, Morpheus! Here Mikey!"

The captain thanks the filly. Her brother places the cone on the table and just stares into the distance. Morpheus takes a few licks of ice cream, "Oh, Charlotte. Lander here was wondering if you would like to have a sleepover with Dawn again."

"A sleepover? I'd love to!"

* * *

_You can do this._

The door phases and Lander slowly walks in. The front door resumes its physical presence as it fades back into existence behind him. He sits down at the table. The door to his mother's room is still shut and a thick silence replaces the usually noisy living quarters when his little sister is home. It is nearly sundown, and she is already over at Morpheus's apartment. She is in good hooves. She's happy. Lander levitates the old bowl of soggy cereal and dumps it in the trash. He drops the warm carton of milk from the table in there, too. The spoon and glass bowl levitate into the sink with the clink as they rest on the metal. Lander stretches his arms out on the table and lays his head against the cool wood.

_You're the stallion of the household. You can do this._

Three knocks. No response. No hint of life from inside the bedroom. Complete and total, utterly crushing silence. Lander looks at the floor and raises his hoof. Three more knocks. Still no response. He pushes the black square on the door and the metal panel buzzes at him with hostility.

"Mom. Its Lander."

The words don't even echo after they leave his mouth.

"Please…unlock the door." He sighs and waits for a response. Nothing happens. Words slowly creep through his head as he thinks of what to say. Sentences and explanations – questions without answers creep between his synapses. He is struggling to come up with something to say to kill the silence…even though saying nothing is the best thing he can do right now. The door remains locked. For a full minute Lander stands in front of the locked metal panel as the only sound in the entire apartment is his own breathing.

_Inhale...exhale. Nothing. Not a single thing. Inhale...exhale. Silence. No sound at all. Inhale...something's moving behind the door…_

The door suddenly phases with a warm tone as it unlocks. His mother is standing in front of him with dried tears on her emotionally torn face. The two exchange a wordless stare – an emotion is worth a thousand words. She closes her eyes tightly as more tears leak through. Words are not needed right now.

…_exhale._

The muffled sound of crying fills the apartment as her hooves wrap around his neck, placing all of her weight on him as she pours out her stress into his shoulder. Lander returns the passionate hug with one hoof and keeps his stance with the other as the words softly escape his lips.

"It's gonna be okay, mom."

Lander clenches his eyes shut as a single tear escapes the tight grasp of his useless attempt to hold back his pain. The tear glides down his cheek and past his quivering mouth.

"It's gonna be okay…"


End file.
